Health, Hedonism & All the Delicious Things In Between

I’m a food writer, chef, competitive French fry eater, and owner of one too many frilly aprons. This is where I share my recipes for healthy hedonism, gluten-free finds, and tips on living a more balanced life beyond food.

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As part of the aftermath of our Alive Tribe retreat, I’m doing a 100 Day Project. The idea is that everyone does one action or furthers some intention everyday for 100 days and records their progress in some form, the most popular of which has been instagram. I’ve been trying to find a morning routine that works for me, and as part of that pursuit, I decided to make my project to spend 10 percent of every day on myself.

My acupuncturist Heidi has urged me to carve out this time. We spend so much of the day leasing out mental space to other people’s problems. Taking legitimate time to yourself is like taking your soul vitamins. And it’s important to set that type of intention at the beginning of the day.

Even though my schedule is fairly flexible as a freelancer, the unpredictability has made it hard for me to make time for any sort of regular practices. This is one of the biggest challenges I’ve had with exercise, as self care usually feels frivolous to prioritize over work. And it’s also something that’s gotten in the way of breakfast. Some days I’ll walk downstairs from my sleeping loft, start writing emails while my tea kettle is coming to a boil, and then before I know it, it’s noon and I’m still in my underwear. I’m also starving.

So as part of my 10 percent exercise, I’m committing to a more regular breakfast routine – something other than the usual bars I eat bites of in between clicks of the keyboard. This green smoothie is one of my new go-to’s, and the fact that it requires 5 minutes to prepare actually helps establish some “me time” before I get distracted by everyone else’s needs via email. But I’ve been dying to step outside my breakfast box and experiment more with chia seeds ever since my friend who recently moved to San Francisco expressed that we were way behind the chia movement on this coast.

The nice thing about chia pudding is that the seeds benefit from hydrating overnight. They also pack a crazy amount of nutrients in a very small package, so you don’t need much to give you a kick start in the morning. My new routine is going to include making a batch of chia pudding at the beginning of the week and dividing it between a few individual cups for easy breakfast grab and go snacking.

This dairy-free Thai peanut chia seed pudding was inspired by my favorite flavor of Jeni’s Splendid Ice Cream, Bangkok Peanut. I love how she packs all those sour, sweet, salty, and spicy Thai flavors into an ice cream. Why not do the same thing with my morning pudding?I use a mix of almond milk and coconut for the liquid base because I found that with the peanut butter, using coconut alone made for a very thick pudding. But if you wanted to streamline you could use one or the other. The coconut milk also has a natural sweetness to it, so you don’t need a ton of added honey. Since I’ve also been off sugar this month, I’ve just been eating it without any.

Do you have any go-to breakfasts I should try? Let me know in the comments!

If you don't have both coconut and almond milk, you can use one of the other. Without any coconut you'll miss the full Thai flavor. I like combining them because the coconut milk is great for a thick pudding, and the almond gives a nice splash of extra hydration for the seeds.

Ingredients

2 cups coconut milk

1 cup almond milk (you can use all coconut if you wish)

2 tablespoons honey (if you like your breakfast quite sweet, you may want to double)

In a large bowl, whisk together the coconut milk, almond milk, honey, zest, peanut butter, cayenne and salt until smooth. Add the chia seeds and stir to combine. Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, or overnight, stirring once to make sure there are no clumps.

Spoon the pudding into individual cups or mason jars and garnish with the peanuts and coconut, if using. Premade puddings can be kept covered in the fridge for 3 to 5 days.

Notes

You can make the pudding in advance and eat the individual portions all week long for breakfast.

Quinoa flakes make an excellent breakfast. 2 1/2 mins in the micro, sweeten with stevia or honey or maple syrup. Add fruit or raisins exactly as you would with oatmeal. Or don’t sweeten and add salt and butter as for grits. And it’s pure protein!